About

Australian mezzo-soprano Kate Howden studied at Trinity Laban with Ameral Gunson, the Royal Academy of Music with Elizabeth Ritchie and Jonathan Papp, and the National Opera Studio. She currently studies privately with Susan Roberts.

In the 2018/19 season, Kate looks forward to performing Baba the Turk in Stravinky's The Rake's Progress with the Gothenburg Symphony conducted by Barbara Hannigan, and to singing at the Ojai Festival in California with Hannigan's Equilibrium Artists scheme.

Opera roles include the title role in both Massenet and Isouard's Cendrillons, Carlotta (La scuola de'gelosi/Salieri), Isolier (Le Comte Ory), Bianca (The Rape of Lucretia), Hansel, La Ciesca (Gianni Schicchi), La suora zelatrice (Suor Angelica), Dorothée (Cendrillon), Cherubino and Annio (La Clemenza di Tito). She performed the eponymous role in a scene from Cendrillon in the ROH Jette Parker summer showcase 2017, on the ROH main stage with their orchestra.

Kate’s recent soloist performances include concerts at the Canberra International Music Festival (repertoire including Handel arias, Satie's Socrate and Monteverdi's Ulisse), Mark Antony Turnage's Twice Through the Heart with Shadwell Operaand a worldwide tour of Il Ritorno with contemporary circus group Circa, with venues including the Barbican Theatre and the Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley. She recently toured Scotland with Scottish Opera's Opera Highlights tour, and performed the complete songs of Henri Duparc with Sachika Taniyama at Julius Drake's Machynlleth Festival.

She was the winner of the Jean Meikle Prize for a Duo (with pianist Sachika Taniyama) at the 2015 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition. Kate is grateful for previous support from Opera North, the Les Azuriales Opera Trust, the Robert Vivian Memorial Trust, the Kathleen Trust, the Ian Potter Cultural Trust, Jennie Blythe, Matthew and Sally Ferrey, the Australian Music Foundation (with the Riddiford Trust), the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Tait Memorial Trust and the Opus 50 Charitable Trust.